A deposit of hundreds of embalming tools uncovered in Abusir, Egypt, offers clues into a lavish funeral that likely took place about 2,600 years ago.
Some of the ceramic jars that were deposited could provide insight into the mummification process.
An Egyptologist from the Warsaw Mummy Project, who was not involved in the study, told Insider that it was an exciting and important discovery.
We know hundreds of mummies, but we don't know much about the embalming process.
The site is visible from the surface. Peter Ko is the director of the Czech Institute of Egyptology.
The lead archaeologist on the mission said that Embalming shafts were used in Ancient Egypt.
They were used to store objects that came into contact with the body during the 70 day embalming process.
The shafts of Abusir, a cemetery for ancient Egyptian elites from the neighboring city of Memphis, have a lot of artifacts.
The rich cache can be called a cookbook for making mummies.
The tomb of Menekhibnekau, a high-ranking general, contained about 300 jars.
The cache of King Tutankhamun only contained about a dozen, Ejsmond said.
There is a jar at the Abusir site. Peter Ko is the director of the Czech Institute of Egyptology.
He said that Menekhibnekau's embalming shaft provided fascinating details since there is no ancient text detailing the mummification process.
The current discovery made by the Czech mission has great potential. Prof. Barta said that it can show the sequence of events in the embalming process.
The shaft is about 16 feet wide and 50 feet deep. That is large.
The tomb is more than 65 feet deep and 45 feet wide.
The person buried in this tomb is not known.
The resting place of one of the highest officials of his time, around the 6th century BC, is where the tomb is and the lavishness of the embalming shaft.
He might have been a male priest, general, or official close to the pharaoh.
It is highly probable that he was named Wadie-mery-neith, since it was found on one of the jars.
The display of wealth and devotion seen in Abusir might have something to do with the political situation in Egypt at the time.
This particular cemetery of shafts in Abusir is a wonderful example of a collapsing society that is desperate for new means to prevent their collapse.
Egypt civilization was in decline during the 6th century BC. Greeks, Persians, and Nubians were looking to take over, threatening the Egyptian way of life.
The revival of ancient sacred rites included the recreation of historic funerals and the return to worshiping many kinds of different sacred animals.
The ancient Egyptians were doing what every culture does when they are attacked from the outside: they return to their roots.
Which of course is highly interesting anthropological behavior, but in most cases fails, and it also failed in the case of ancient Egyptians.
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